You Can’t Say That!

Britain, like Germany, is trying to find a way out of its ruinous commitment to costly renewable energy. Yesterday Britain’s environmental minister blurted out what is surely on the minds of many Brits: modest warming would be beneficial to Britain:

Owen Paterson, Britain’s secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, says effects of global warming could be beneficial. The cabinet minister responsible for fighting the effects of climate change claimed there would be advantages to an increase in temperature predicted by the United Nations including fewer people dying of cold in winter and the growth of certain crops further north. Paterson has long been suspected of being a climate change sceptic. He has previously called for a reduction in the subsidies given to wind farms and other green energy initiatives.

“People get very emotional about this subject and I think we should just accept that the climate has been changing for centuries.

“I think the relief of this latest report is that it shows a really quite modest increase, half of which has already happened. They are talking one to two and a half degrees.

“Remember that for humans, the biggest cause of death is cold in winter, far bigger than heat in summer. It would also lead to longer growing seasons and you could extend growing a little further north into some of the colder areas.

“I actually see this report as something we need to take seriously but I am rather relieved that it is not as catastrophic in its forecast as we had been led to believe early on and what it is saying is something we can adapt to over time and we are very good as a race at adapting,” he said.

I predict at the IPCC’s 95 percent confidence level that this comment will upset people.